It wasn’t until after I’d finished watching Nebraska and looked up information on it on Wikipedia that I realized who director Alexander Payne is. This is the same person who directed Sideways, one of the most memorable road-trip films I’ve ever watched. Duh – I went. That’s because this is another road-trip film and it is once again an excellent one.

It isn’t quite clear at first glance why this film is called Nebraska given its premise. An ailing father is convinced that he has won a million dollars in a sweepstakes prizes and wants to travel from his home in Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska. His family knows that it’s a scam and is exasperated by his stubbornness and refusal to listen to reason. Eventually, the younger of his two sons relents and agrees to take him.

But as you learn more about these characters and follow them on their journey, you realize that this film is as much about the places they’re moving through as about them. These are the small towns that dot the American midwest, set amidst open plains and wide skies, all captured in high contrast black-and-white in this film. And of course it’s also about the people who still live in these towns. Close-knit, yes, but also horribly gossipy. Friendly, but also busybodies.

Naturally this is matched by equally good writing of the main characters. Bruce Dern is fantastic as the father and even if his son, and by extension, the audience, never gets over how frustratingly stubborn he is, we at least understand where he is coming from. No one is actually redeemed over the course of the film but its great strength is that it successfully convinces us that no redemption is necessary. Understanding and sympathy is enough.

If there are any flaws, one might note that the son, played by Will Forte, comes across as a bit too patient and as my wife mentioned, a bit too sane. He just falls too readily into the role of a son eager to discover what kind of person his father really is. Plus since Forte is primarily a comedian, I kept having the odd expectation that the dialogue would take a turn towards Kevin Smith-style snark which was very distracting.

But that is a very minor quibble in what is without doubt a very finely crafted film indeed. It’s a quiet, unassuming film filled with ordinary characters with modest ambitions. And this is exactly why the characters feel so sympathetic and the emotions feel so genuine. Makers of The Journey should take notes: this is how you elevate a road-trip film beyond a mere children’s fairy tale.